HSK 4 · Body

胳膊 gēbo “arm” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 胳膊 means

  1. arm

Measure word 只 zhī or 条 tiáo · 一只胳膊 yì zhī gēbo

How to say 胳膊

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale胳gē1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own膊boneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

胳膊 in a sentence

  1. 他抓住了她的胳膊。

    Tā zhuāzhù le tā de gēbo.

    He grabbed her arm.

    Sentence #1394880 from Tatoeba

  2. 我看见他们胳膊挽着胳膊地走路。

    Wǒ kànjiàn tāmen gēbo wǎn zhe gēbo de zǒulù.

    I saw them walking arm in arm.

    Sentence #2437290 from Tatoeba

  3. 他只要一动，伤口就连带整个胳膊都疼。

    Tā zhǐyào yí dòng, shāngkǒu jiù liándài zhěnggè gēbo dōu téng.

    Whenever he moved, the wound sent pains all along his arm.

    Sentence #1584124 from Tatoeba

How 胳膊 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 胳 (gē) with each of its parts in a different colour
胳gēarmpit
  • ⺼meat form of 肉 · ròuMeaning part
  • 各individual · gèSound part

⺼ hints at the meaning (meat); 各 (gè) hints at the sound. Compare it with gē.

The character 膊 (bó) with each of its parts in a different colour
膊bóshoulderlight in 胳膊
  • ⺼meat form of 肉 · ròuMeaning part
  • 尃to announce · fūSound part

⺼ hints at the meaning (meat); 尃 (fū) hints at the sound. Compare it with bo.

How to write 胳膊

胳 10 strokes · 膊 14 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

胳膊 (gēbo) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 胳膊 (gēbo). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 胳膊

More words: People, Body & Health

小伙子xiǎohuǒzi · young man友谊yǒuyì · companionship作者zuòzhě · author肚子dùzi · belly咳嗽késou · to cough汗hàn · perspiration力气lìqi · strength毛máo · hair

FAQs

胳膊 (gēbo) means “arm”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it gēbo: gē with a 1st tone, then bo with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 胳膊 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 只 (zhī) or 条 (tiáo). For example, one arm is 一只胳膊 (yì zhī gēbo).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gebo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 胳膊 from the suggestions. Typing gebo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
胳膊 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.